Lezgic Languages - The Voicing of Ejective Consonants

The Voicing of Ejective Consonants

The Lezgic languages are relevant to the glottalic theory of Indo-European, as several have undergone the voicing of ejectives that has been postulated but widely derided as improbable in that family. The correspondences have not been well worked out (Rutul is inconsistent in the examples), but a few examples are:

  • Non-Lezgic: Avar tstsʼar; Lezgic: Rutul dur, Caxur do 'name'
  • Non-Lezgic: Archi motʃʼor, Lak tʃʼiri; Lezgic: Rutul mitʃʼri, Tabassaran midʒir, Aɡul mudʒur 'beard'
  • Non-Lezgic: Avar motsʼ; Lezgic: Tabassaran vaz 'moon'

A similar change has taken place in non-initial position in the Nakh languages.

Read more about this topic:  Lezgic Languages